Finding Our Way Home
by ohmypreciousgirl
Summary: Their greatest accomplishment was growing old together.


**Notes: **Special thanks to chasethewind for being my beta. Title of chapter from 'Oh my my my (Mary's song)' by Taylor Swift.

* * *

They grew old together.

That was a feat in of itself since Oliver was the city's vigilante and Felicity was his partner.

Along the way, Oliver got more scars while Felicity got tired.

After all the years they spent trying to fix the city, Felicity realized that the suffering, the chaos, the violence couldn't be finished. Their little operation couldn't fight a huge system of oppression and helplessness. The change didn't just depend on them. She knew they made a difference every single day, but sometimes it felt so small that it seemed meaningless.

She didn't ask Oliver if he ever got tired of that.

She knew he was tired of living since he was shipwrecked. As time went on, the weight upon him only grew heavier.

If she was tired, Oliver was exhausted.

However, they found peace in each other and that was enough.

* * *

They survived together through the Count, Helena Bertinelli, Slade Wilson, Clock King, Ra's al Ghul, Malcom Merlyn and Thea finding out Oliver's secret identity.

They attended Moira's funeral and Thea's wedding. They helped Roy recover from his accident due to a fire in his apartment. They supported Thea when the truth about her paternity came out. They were the godparents of John's first child. Felicity lost a baby and became sterile. The number of tattoos covering Oliver's body only grew.

During all that time, they helped the city.

For the most part, they grew old together.

* * *

When they got together, Felicity thought everything would be different, but it wasn't.

Unless he needed to, Oliver still didn't open up about the island. The same way Felicity couldn't find in her the strength to talk about her family.

In the end, Felicity understood that talking wasn't the only way they could connect and deal with their emotional baggage.

If it was raining, Oliver always found shelter in her arms. After a call to her mother, his arms would wrap around her waist, his chin pressed to her shoulder while she tried to match her breathing with his.

Most of all, they were the same. They bickered over details and had screaming matches about methods. She always walked away from a discussion when she already spoke her mind. Oliver used violence to vent his frustration and anger. She tended his wounds after a fight. He said her name like it held the meaning of life.

But first and foremost, they were friends.

* * *

They said 'I love you' all the time. Although, in the beginning, she thought it'd be a big deal to say those three words out loud.

It was the sound of a gun going off and Oliver's scream that made her reconsider the whole choice of not saying 'I love you'.

She didn't want to lose Oliver. Ever. But she'd hate to lose him without letting him know he was loved by her. So, the first thing she did when Oliver woke up was kiss his forehead and mutter 'I love you'. She would never forget the wide smile he gave her before muttering back 'I love you too'.

Their lives were filled with uncertainty. Their feelings for each other wouldn't become one of those things.

* * *

Felicity knew Oliver lived in constant fear: fear of not being good enough, fear of being the reason people he loved died, fear of failing, fear of being too late, fear of Felicity walking away from the life they built together.

She understood all these fears, particularly because she shared some of them.

But if there was one thing she learned while saving the city with her team was that she couldn't live in fear. If she let her doubts dominate her life, she wouldn't live and that was the scariest thought she ever had.

She wanted to live her life to the fullest, get everything she ever wanted out of it.

That was the only thing she had in mind when she asked Oliver to marry her.

* * *

Diggle was the first one to retire.

And then it was Sara, followed by Barry and then Oliver.

The night Oliver turned sixty-six, Felicity cried in the darkness of their room.

She never thought he'd live long enough to hang up his hood and let another person take his place as the Arrow. Robb was a good kid, Barry and Thea raised him right. He was as talented with a bow and an arrow as Oliver had been back in the day.

Felicity couldn't be more proud of their legacy.

They were surrounded by young people that wanted to change things around them and that was good. That meant her job was done.

She got what she wanted: to make a difference.

* * *

At eighty, Felicity could barely remember a time in her life that she didn't have Oliver around.

It was hard to reconcile the decades they shared a life with her youthful fantasies about him. Her reality surpassed anything she imagined at twenty-five. Christ, she vaguely remembered looking at Oliver and hoping he'd notice her as something more than a friend.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked snapping her out of her thoughts. She blinked slowly, her eyes finding his, a smile gracing his lips. So many years had passed since he entered her office at QC for the first time and he still managed to take her breath away.

"You," she said, smiling back. "Always."

* * *

_**Next Part:**_

_She couldn't believe she was pulling an Oliver on… well, Oliver. _

_Although, in retrospect, it was totally not her fault._

_It was Thea's fault._

_Her sister-in-law insisted they should spend the night before their wedding in separate rooms at the big resort where they were having their ceremony. And Felicity, being a big romantic, thought that a little space between them before wedding wouldn't hurt. _

_She couldn't believe she managed to convince Oliver that it'd be a great idea._

**Please, leave me comments and favorite it if you enjoyed it!**  
**xoxo**  
**Naty :)**


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